The Cotton Belt is Picking Sides — I’m Pulling for the Cardinals!

There is something about the World Series. I can’t put my finger on it but it draws me in time and time again. Even if I haven’t watched much baseball during the season, the playoff season tends to grab me even if my team is totally out of it. I admit it. I am a baseball fan. I love agriculture and the two things sort of merged in a post I wrote this spring cause it was clear that spring training was much like farming to me. And as we look at the final few games of major league baseball this year, it seems appropriate that farmers are harvesting their crops across the country.

But across the Cotton Belt, and actually across farms across the U.S., farmers are picking sides. I see it in my Facebook feed and my tweets every game. On the surface, most people would assume cotton farmers divide their allegiance between the teams in the heart of the Cotton Belt. The teams that come to mind are the Atlanta Braves, Texas Rangers, Arizona Diamondbacks…. but you may not know how many in the Cotton Belt are also fans of the St. Louis Cardinals. There are a few reasons:

A lot of Southerners came through St. Louis when they migrated north seeking jobs. This was especially the case with industrialization.

There is a big gap in the “Mid-South” where there are no major league teams. St. Louis is the closest drive for many people in the southern area of the Mississippi River states.

So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that farmers in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and other states are pulling for the Cardinals…. and some of them are showing it in unique ways. Check out what my friend Tracey Sullivan saw while driving on Highway 51 near Ripley! I’d say that cotton farmer really loves the Cardinals! (If you know cotton farmers who are cheering for the Rangers in such dramatic fashion, I’d be willing to give them a nod too.)

Comments

Hi Janice, I can relate to your “getting sucked in” during World Series time! That happens to me with most major sports at playoff time. Baseball, however, is something I watch regularly, and go to a few games too. When I was 7, my grandpa started taking me to Red Sox games. I grew u[ a Sox fan, even went to college in Boston where I took in quite a few games. I am now a reformed Sox fan, and have turned my allegiance to the SF Giants. It took about 8 years after moving to the Bay area in 2000, but I am a complete fanatic about “The Black and Orange.” I wear orange every Friday (we call it Orange Friday!) and wear a little bit of orange during most games. My husband and I watch or listen to some (and often all) of every regular season game! Hmmm…. this is starting to sound like a blog post for me coming up! Anyway, good to meet you too. Thanks for the comment on my blog… See ya around!

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